Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

In this print by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, performer Yvette Guilbert strikes a rather unusual pose on stage before a large audience. Lautrec was greatly interested in capturing Guilbert’s facial expressions, nearly to the point of caricature. However, as art historian Alexandra Courtois de Viçose convincingly reveals through her research, Lautrec’s command of rendering such facial expressions is thanks in part to his early tutelage under artist René Princeteau, who was deaf and a sign-language practitioner. Understanding this as “deaf gain,” Courtois highlights how deaf culture helped shape Lautrec’s aesthetic.

You can read more in Courtois’s essay in Manual 17: Variance: “‘Deaf Gain’ in the Cabaret: Toulouse-Lautrec’s Yvette Guilbert Taking a Curtain Call.”